The Official Mario Kart thread

I really, really hate the Leaf Cup.

That's funny. I was just about to post that I suspected that inward drifting bikes were oddly superior to all other options. Being able to make all those tight turns is quite a boon, and they have a great mix of acceleration, speed and handling.

Though it might just be that the combos I'm comparing here are just that unequal. One was Rosalina/Comet/Slim/MKTV Glider, or the "Shooting star", as I call it^* Why, yes, I do name all my combos if I can find something funny. I also named all my Pokemon. All 1200 of them.. Terrible traction at 1.75, but 4.5 top speed, 3 acceleration, and 3.75 weight and handling. Currently in the process of murdering the 150cc cups with this.

The other one was Daisy, in a Sport Coupé/Slick/Peach Parasol, or "Sunny Day". Looking at the stats in the Kart builder, I can see why it's just so inferior to the other build. Worse stats in speed, acceleration and weight, equal in handling, and only .25 better traction.

Yeah, I should probably figure something better for Daisy. She's my favourite Mario Sports character ever since I had a crush on her when I was eleven I played Mario Tennis on the n64. I'd like to use her as my main. Preferably in a four-wheeled vehicle, if only because bikes are so overused amongst my friends.

Lessee, playing around with the builder a little more, see if I can improve on Sunny Day. Replacing the Slick Wheel with normal tires would cause my max speed and weight to drop even further, but increase my traction and acceleration. Not enough to make it worth it, though. At least, I don't think so. I have no idea how important Traction is (or even what it does exactly, same with Handling.) Should probably switch out the base kart instead.

I should probably stop thinking about max speed so much if I ever plan to use Daisy with competence, because that's just not going to happen without sacrificing everything else. I think I'll go try out the Biddy Buggy with Slim wheels. Low-ish speed at 2.75, but acceleration at 4, handling at 4.5 and traction at 3.25. The low weight at 2.5 might cause problems, though, unless this build turns out to be so successful that I won't have to get into bashing competitions with other racers.

Probably not, though. I'm beginning to suspect that Weight-classes below Cruiser Weight might as well not be there.

Team races/battles with the AI is so bad that you should avoid it because there's still friendly fire and the AI WILL attack you, regardless of their team affiliation.

They're alright on a heavyweight character because they have naturally high speed and benefit from the acceleration boost and their natural low handling helps keep steering and drifting for miniturbos at a manageable level (not too sharp, not too wide), but outward drifting vehicles tend to be better for other weight classes and they remain a good option for heavyweights as well.

Traction is how basically how much grip you have on the road. Very important for courses where the main road is off-road, like Dry Dry Desert and Wario Stadium. Because of this, Traction coupled with Handling have a say in how good your vehice's overall steering is.

edited 30th Jun '14 10:17:41 AM by Folt

I sometimes hate some races. One race I got hit by a Spiny Shell, Red Shell, and a Green shell in a row.

I love the music in DK Jungle course from the 3DS. Did it have the bass in the song on the 3DS? I don't remember hearing any bass in Mario Kart7.

Been taking the Honey Sweet (Daisy, Biddy Buggyy, Slim Wheels and Flower Sail) for a spin today. Worked a lot better than I expected. Still not enough to three-star the 150cc Star Cup, but I couldn't manage that with my other build either anyway. On the whole, I think the results might be slightly better. Loving the tight turns I make on this thing.

I see. In that case, I might just switch out those Slim Wheels. Dolphin Shoals and Mount Wario happen to be just the stages that keep me from getting three stars on the 150cc Star Cup. If a little extra traction can help me out there, I should probably take it.

Lessee, going ball-in on traction with Monster Wheels might be funny, but I predict that standard tires would be a preferable option. Handling and acceleration are the Honey Sweet's main selling points, so I shouldn't go crazy dumping that. Can't afford dumping speed even further using Cushion Wheels either.

Another idea: Waluigi in the Landship with Monster tires. Average Speed and Acceleration, plus good traction and weight should make a quite potent off-road build. Also, the idea of Waluigi as a pirate amuses me.

edited 30th Jun '14 11:05:21 AM by Kayeka

I think the combo I finally beat 150cc Star cup with was Pipe Frame + Cyber Slick + Super Glider. Quite awful on Dolphin Shoals (underpowered all around in water) but isn't too bad on Mount Wario (mostly due to Slick tires' horrid underwater performance not mattering much on that stage). Though I've also had luck with the Pipe Frame + Retro Off-Road + MKTV Parafoil (average stats all around, but in the case of a middle-weight it can actually do some good stuff with their average bases).

I was using Luigi though, who has quite more Speed than Daisy, so those combos may not work as well.

Given that your speed is around the middle, it's a good thing that your Acceleration hits 3 so you can get to tier 3 Acceleration.

A good combo for Cruisers (like Waluigi) is Circuit Special + Slim + Parafoil (or any combo that's the same as this). 5 Ground Speed (and 4.5 Gravity Speed, 4.75 Water Speed, and 4.5 Air Speed), tier 2 Acceleration (which isn't bad when you have this much speed), and average handling (3 in all instances of handling), and unlike a combo using the Slick group, it won't be as stunted in water. As for traction, it sits at 2 which is manageable with training.

edited 30th Jun '14 11:29:43 AM by Folt

Wait, karts can have different performances under water? I thought it was mostly the same, safe from some different gravity.

Yeah, the game has some hidden stats it doesn't bother showing you. You'll have to search online to find out what each racer and kart's stats are.

Oh, goodie, just what I was hoping for.

Bloody hell, if there is one thing I hate, it's hidden stats.

EDIT:At least the differences don't seem to be too drastic. Though the rollers getting that much of a mini-turbo boost is surprising.◊

edited 30th Jun '14 11:31:13 AM by Kayeka

It's pretty much like in Mario Kart 7, except Gravity Speed and Gravity Handling have been added to the mix (while Drift and Stability have been cut).

I've posted a combo above if you want to try it.

Thanks. I just might. It's going to be tricky to combine performance with my sense of aesthetics and humour in a satisfactory sense, though.

Been watching this youtube playlist by some Mario Kart fanatic. Should give me a few extra pointer on how to not suck too hard.

I do hope I'm not going to end up taking this too seriously and suck the fun out of it.

Generally, I believe the consensus is that lightweights in this game is very underpowered in comparison to the heavier classes and that metalweights is the worst heavy class (better handling and medium hitbox does not excuse sharing the poorest acceleration with heavyweights when you have the speed of cruiserweights).

That said, I have heard about at least one viable combo for lightweights and metalweights can still pull their weight in a race (haha). Just remember that you will pretty much always be at a disadvantage if using a lightweight as going up a weight class is almost always better (the exception is metalweight which is worse than being a cruiserweight).

And now I'm already wishing I can go back to building karts that didn't seem too stupid in their stats based on how funny they look and how much I like the character.

Fuck it. I'll bloody well make it work.

Also, knowing about acceleration tiers would have been nice at the very start. At least now I know that my Honey Sweet might just be the best possible combination for Daisy in this particular direction.

edited 30th Jun '14 12:11:45 PM by Kayeka

Here's the acceleration tiers btw, from lowest to highest:

Tier 1: 1-1.75
Tier 2: 2.2.75
Tier 3: 3.3.75
Tier 4: 4.4.75
Tier 5: 5
Tier 6: 5.25
Tier 7: 5.5
Tier 8: 5.75

The heavier the racer, the less acceleration he or she needs (though Tier 1 is pretty crap, no matter what, always aim for Tier 2, no matter how heavy a weight class you use). Also note that from tier 5 onwards, the acceleration tiers give very small incremental returns (you'd think this would be the case for every .25 but no) and Tier 4 acceleration can be reached by any weight class.

edited 30th Jun '14 12:17:39 PM by Folt

Yeah, I already got that much from that one youtube channel. Kind of makes me wonder if the other stats have a similar system.

For some odd reason, they don't. Every .25 increment actually improved Speed, Handling, etc. by a tiny bit like how every .25 increment lost worsened them. This way of segregating acceleration from other stats works just like how they did in Mario Kart 7 (the main difference is that the random acceleration tiers went from 0.75 to 1.5, 1.75 to 2.5, 2.75 to 3.5, and so on up until you got to 4.75 and upwards in which case every .25 increment improved acceleration by a tiny bit like in MK8).

(If you want my opinion, I liked the way MK7 distributed its bases because it made every weight class very very balanced, meaning that Metal Mario's smaller size frame was pretty much the only advantage a character actually had over everyone else.)

edited 30th Jun '14 12:29:44 PM by Folt

Wheee, finally managed to three-star the 150cc star cup, followed by the Leaf Cup for good measure. Don't know if it was because I replaced my Slim wheels with Slick ones, or because I took a break after a far-too-long gaming session before coming back, but it turned out quite nicely. Especially Dolphin Shoals, which turned out to be quite a worthy fight that I added to my favourites of my highlight list.

I'd love to keep this streak going, but I have to get up at 6 for work tomorrow, and I don't think that my boss will take "I've been too busy playing Mario Kart" as an excuse to be half-asleep at the job.

Oh well. The Special and Lightning Cup will still be there tomorrow.

All this talk about stats and best combos reminds me too much of Pokemon with its meta game.

Dammit, Nintendo. Nobody told me there'd be math!

I gave up trying to 3 Star everything. Now I just want to get at least 1 Star so I can get the Gold Parts.

Don't bother with 3 stars. You don't unlock anything. You don't even get the stars next to your name online.

One more thing regarding stats. Air Speed and Air Handling are the worst and most pointless ones so you don't need to optimize for those. (So what Glider is the best for your combo depends on whether it does nothing or gives you .25 acceleration in exchange for .25 weight. In some cases, the former is better, while the latter is better for other cases.)

edited 30th Jun '14 2:35:13 PM by Folt

You get "Bragging Rights" the most important reward of them all.

Except not this time, because its easier to do in comparison to previous games.

edited 30th Jun '14 2:36:00 PM by randomness4

Hence why I'm only 5 cups shy of having 3-star ranking on everything. Bragging with less broken AI!

edited 30th Jun '14 2:39:36 PM by Elbruno